It’s a wonderful life.
It certainly has been that for Jim Donovan, and he would be the first one to tell you that.
But the one thing that didn’t come out in his retirement last month from Cleveland’s WKYC-TV (Channel 3) is that there is one negative, or at least one regret, to that life. He would tell you that, too.
A little over 15 years ago, WKYC, where Donovan served as sports director for 39 years, negotiated a contract with the then Indians to televise a select number of their home games on weekends and holidays.
At the same time, Donovan had applied to be the radio play-by-play announcer for Notre Dame football games., He has been a big fan of the Fighting Irish, since he was growing up in the Boston area. When the opening occurred, he did not hesitate to throw his hat into the ring. He thought it would be a thrill to do the Notre Dame games on Saturday and then the Browns games on Sunday. A number of other radio play-by-play announcers for NFL teams do games in other sports. That includes someone with whom Browns fans may be familiar, Bill Hillgrove, who for years has broadcast the Pittsburgh Steelers games on the radio, and also serves as the play-by-play radio announcer for University for Pittsburgh football and basketball games.
Donovan ended up being offered the job by Notre Dame, but to his great chagrin, he had to turn it down because WKYC would not allow him to miss any Indians games, and there were some Indians games on Notre Dame football Saturdays in September. The contract with the Indians had been negotiated with the stipulation that Donovan, who had done Class AA Minor League baseball games for the Vermont Reds, would serve as the play-by-play man. Interestingly, enough, the Vermont Reds are now the Akron RubberDucks, the AA affiliate of the Guardians. Donovan is probably the only guy in guardians broadcasting history to call games for the parent club and one of its Minor League affiliates.
Anyway, Donovan really wanted to have those jobs, to do the games for both the Browns and Notre Dame, his two favorite football teams, but it just didn’t work out.
Otherwise, though, it really has been a wonderful life for Jim Donovan, and it will continue indefinitely as he remains the radio play-by-play voice of the Browns.
Steve King
